Northern Ethiopia’s shifting alliances explained

The TPLF, Fano militias and Eritrea are redrawing the battle lines in Ethiopia’s north.Between 2020 and 2022, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fought a bloody war against Ethiopia’s federal government and its allies in Eritrea and the Amhara militias known as Fano. Less than four years later, Ethiopia’s federal government is accusing those same former allies of supporting the TPLF, redrawing the map of alliances in northern Ethiopia.So who are the actors now confronting Ethiopia’s federal government in this renewed conflict?The TPLFIn March 2025, fighters from the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) led by Debretsion Gebremichael seized the regional radio station and the mayor’s office in Mekele, along with several towns along the Eritrean border. These included parts of the Sehartie district and the city of Adigrat, the region’s second-largest population centre, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.The centre also said Eritrea still controls parts of the Irob and Shiraro districts along the border, despite the peace agreement’s requirement that all foreign forces withdraw from Ethiopian territory.In October 2025, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the TPLF and Eritrea, in a letter to the United Nations, of “financing, mobilising and directing” Fano forces that had advanced in the North Wollo area.Fano militia members patrol the Sangi livestock market in Ethiopia’s Amhara region on January 23, 2025 [AP]In the letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ethiopia’s foreign minister said the alleged coordination had “become clearer in recent months” and accused “the hardline faction within the front and the Eritrean government” of preparing for war against Ethiopia.